Woman accused of killing Oberlin College freshman revealed to be TikTok star

A popular TikTok cosplayer's channel has gone dark after she was revealed to be the suspect in the January shooting death of an Oberlin College freshman. Mary Ann Oliver-Snow, 23, of Houston, is charged with second-degree felony manslaughter. She told homicide investigators she pulled the trigger and killed her high school friend Helen Hastings, 19, during a night of partying, according to public records filed with Harris County District Court in Texas. The incident happened Jan. 17 with six witnesses in the house. In a statement to investigators, Oliver-Snow said they "were all drinking and she got pretty drunk" and also smoked marijuana while watching the television show "Gotham" about young Bruce Wayne (Batman) and his gallery of villains. That's when Oliver-Snow piped up and said she had a gun just like the Penguin, according to Deputy Margarita Nolan. The weapon had been left behind when her ex-boyfriend moved out. She said Hastings jokingly told her, "Shoot me, shoot me." So Oliver-Snow placed the gun against her head and pulled the trigger, she said. It's unclear whether there was a round in the chamber. Nolan said Oliver-Snow believed she had removed the magazine, but was too drunk to recall whether she put it back in. Oliver-Snow admitted fault, according to the complaint. The next day, she was indicted by a grand jury with manslaughter for "unlawfully, recklessly" causing Hastings' death, it said. By Jan. 19, Oliver-Snow was free on $20,000 bond. In early February, The Oberlin Review, a college newspaper, published a tribute to Hastings, but it included no indication the first-semester student had been the victim of violence. "Among her friends, Hastings was known for her laughter, enthusiasm, and compassion," the short article said. "Hastings was interested in helping treat misophonia, a condition that causes people to be distressed by particular sounds, and she intended to study neuroscience, psychology and art." In the past few days, swirling rumors led social media users to connect the dots between Oliver-Snow and her online persona. She is known on the social media platform TikTok as cosplay enthusiast yandere.freak. With 1.6 million TikTok followers, yandere.freak's videos have racked up 45.5 million likes. She also has a presence on Instagram, with 19,100 followers. Her bio line on both sites reads "Tomura is GOD," referencing the main villain from the anime "My Hero Academia," whose aim is to murder one of the series' protagonists and bring about the downfall of society. The yandere.freak TikTok account remained active in the months after the shooting, but Tuesday was made private as Oliver-Snow's secret identity was made public. Her Instagram account remains public, with the last post in early June. It features pictures of Oliver-Snow in a variety of anime-themed costumes, some with blood splattered on the walls or on her clothes. One from February 2020, nearly a year before the shooting, shows her holding a toy gun. The manslaughter case is in front of Judge Chris Morton. The next hearing on the docket is an Oct. 21 evidence exchange. Oliver-Snow has also been accused of violating bond by failing to check in as instructed, keep her GPS tracking device charged or report to pretrial services as directed. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.